How Does the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Perform?

NVIDIA is aiming the GeForce GTX 980 Ti at gamers that own the GeForce GTX 680 or GTX 780 Ti, and want a serious upgrade, something that the GTX 980 Ti will offer them. We haven't got any GTX 680 numbers, or GTX 780 Ti numbers unfortunately, but we do have GTX 780 numbers to compare them against.

So, what we're going to do with this review is see what the performance is like against three cards and then we're going to reevaluate the GTX 980 Ti in around another month when AMD drops its Fiji XT-based Radeon R9 390X.

We'll look at the GTX 980 Ti compared against the GTX 780, GTX 980 and the Titan X. It beats the GTX 780 and GTX 980 without a problem, and even keeps up with and sometimes beats the Titan X, which is astounding. The Titan X is a $999 card (in the US at least, it's over $1500 in Australia for example) and this is just the reference card. Just you wait until AIB partners get their hands on the GTX 980 Ti.

Performance at 1080p

As usual, we'll start with Battlefield 4 on our Ultra preset (minus AA) where the GTX 980 Ti starts off insanely well with 170FPS average. We are using some unreleased drivers which might give it a little advantage over our previous runs, but not by that much. The GTX 980 Ti beats the pants off of every other single GPU we've tested, including the Titan X.

The same goes for GRID Autosport, with the GTX 980 Ti performing beautifully with 163FPS average. Compare this to the 128FPS average of the GTX 780, 140FPS of the GTX 980 and 160FPS of the Titan X. Moving onto Metro: Last Light, the GTX 980 Ti domination continues with 100FPS average, equal to that of its GM200 brother, the Titan X. The GTX 780 is capable of just 62FPS here, while the GTX 980 scores 79FPS.

The newer games are where the Maxwell architecture, as well as the 384-bit memory bus on the GTX 980 Ti really come into play, like Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. We see the GTX 980 Ti scoring an insane 114FPS average, leaving the GTX 780 in its dust with just 58FPS. The GTX 980 does much better with 90FPS, but it still can't catch the GTX 980 Ti. The GTX 980 Ti can't beat the Titan X in SoM, but it doesn't lose by much... just 12FPS.

Moving onto Thief, the GTX 980 TI continues its domination with 104FPS average, nearly double that of the 61FPS that the GTX 780 manages. The GTX 980 is a little better here with 83FPS, while the Titan X pushes 108FPS.

Another game we were very surprised with is Tomb Raider, where the GTX 980 Ti spits out a huge 132FPS average. The GTX 780 manages only 76FPS, while the GTX 980 is capable of 144FPS. The Titan X is only a few frames better than the GTX 980 Ti, with the Titan X managing 138FPS.

Performance at 1440p

This is what I want to see: 139FPS average at 1440p on Battlefield 4 at Ultra details (minus AA)... which is what the GTX 980 Ti provides. Insanity, all of which is capable on a single video card. Comparing this to the 82FPS from the GTX 780 and 99FPS from the GTX 980, the GTX 980 Ti is a killer card for Battlefield 4 fans. The Titan X loses to the GTX 980 Ti here, with 118FPS on the Titan X versus 139FPS on the GTX 980 Ti.

The 384-bit memory bus really comes into play with the GTX 980 Ti in GRID Autosport, where it beats the Titan X with 152FPS versus the Titan X and its 146FPS. The GTX 780 only scores 94FPS here, while the GTX 980 pushes out much more with 126FPS.

Metro: Last Light has the GTX 980 Ti beating the Titan X once again, with 68FPS average versus the 66FPS on Titan X. The reference GTX 780 really loses out here with 43FPS, while the GTX 980 doesn't actually do too bad with 55FPS.

Moving on to Shadow of Mordor, the GTX 980 Ti manages to beat the pants off of the GTX 780 and GTX 980 with 83FPS compared to 50FPS and 65FPS for the GTX 780 and GTX 980, respectively. The Titan X is around 10% better here, with 91FPS - but not too far off the 83FPS from the GTX 980 Ti.

Thief surprises again with 72FPS, leaving the GTX 780 and its 40FPS in its dust. The GTX 980 manages 57FPS, while the Titan X is only a single frame better than the GTX 980 Ti with 73FPS versus 72FPS. Tomb Raider sees the GTX 980 Ti pushing 87FPS, leaving the GTX 780 and its 51FPS crying in the corner. The Maxwell-based GTX 980 is much more capable here with 69FPS average, but the Titan X wins here with 92FPS.

Performance at 4K

A brand new performance card is great at 1440p, but at 4K - this is where the fun will begin. Starting with Battlefield 4 at Ultra settings (minus AA), we have the GTX 980 Ti pushing out 78FPS average, compared to the 53FPS average of the GTX 780 and 59FPS of the GTX 980. The Titan X loses out to the GTX 980 Ti here, with 73FPS.

In GRID: Autosport, we have the GTX 980 Ti beating out the GTX 780 by a bigger margin, with 92FPS versus 54FPS. The GTX 980 is a little better with 71FPS, while the Titan X is out in front with 95FPS, just 3FPS better than the GTX 980 Ti.

Metro: Last Light has the GTX 980 Ti with a huge 71FPS, compared to just 38FPS on the GTX 780 and 51FPS on the GTX 980. It is just 2FPS from the Titan X, which manages 73FPS. Shadow of Mordor at 4K shows how great the new GTX 980 Ti is against the GTX 780, with 65FPS versus just 39FPS. The GTX 980 manages 52FPS, which is not too bad at all, but the Titan X wins with 70FPS.

Thief at 4K was good, with the GTX 980 Ti scoring 48FPS average, against the 25FPS average (unplayable in my standards) on the GTX 780, while the GTX 980 is slightly better with 37FPS. It manages to equal the Titan X here at 4K.

Lastly, the GTX 980 Ti scores 87FPS average in Tomb Raider, which is impressive against the 54FPS on the GTX 780, and 68FPS from the GTX 980. The Titan X wins here by just 3FPS, with 90FPS average.

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